How to improve corporateculture consistently

Although improving a culture of integrity has been high on compliance xecutives’ priorities lists for years,little progress has been made. In fact, CEB, nowGartner, research shows the average programhas improved perceptions of culture by lessthan 1% in the past decade, which translatesinto less than a 1% decrease inobserved misconduct. Why is that?

At most companies, efforts to improve
culture start at the top with senior
leaders. If compliance teams are
lucky, they are able to leverage middle
managers to reinforce messages that
support ethical behaviors with their
direct reports.

Unfortunately, this approachtends to ignore the average employee’sexperiences. In fact, half of employees believesenior leaders are honest and act with integrity,but only one quarter trust that their colleaguesbehave ethically. This is alarming, given the hugeimpact people around us—including our peers,colleagues, and bosses—have on what we thinkand how we behave.

Climate: The essential yet neglected factor

Our research shows that the key differentiatorbetween strong and weak culture is climate—thatis, the practices and procedures employees followand behaviors they observe from their boss andpeers on a daily basis. In fact, 69% of employeesin strong climates report trust in their colleagues,a striking difference from the average 25% acrossall employees. Moreover, employees from strongclimates are much more likely to have favorableperceptions of their company’s tone at the topand their direct manager’s leadership.

Unfortunately, almost three-quarters of
employees work in weak climates, weakening
the effectiveness of any integrity-building efforts
by compliance.

Build a strong climate

In order to improve cultures of integrity, compliance
leaders must start building a strong climate by:

· Helping employees understand what good
behaviors look like with specific examples that
enable each employee to see how to exhibit
these behaviors in their day-to-day jobs.

· Creating environments that allow small teams
and groups of employees to engage with one
another on positive ethical behaviors.

Although there’s work to be done, it’s
reassuring that the best cultural solution is within
compliance’s reach. By strengthening climates,
companies can create a strong culture of integrity
that will materially benefit their organization for
years to come.✵